Kathryn Parker on Her SURE Program Colloboration with Dr. Bradley Bond

This summer I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to conduct my own research through USD’s SURE program. Under the advisement of Dr. Bond, I set out to look at the effects of television on young girls’ desires to participate in science and math. When we first started designing the study, I was really nervous— this was the largest project I had ever done and I felt like I was wading into unknown territory. However, once I dived in, I found myself really enjoying the experience and learning a lot about the research process. We spent a great deal of time this summer designing the experi- ment and running it in a pilot study, but what actually took the most time was recruitment, which surprised me. I had no idea that finding participants—especially small children—would be so challenging! Luckily, we finally have our participants, and will be collecting our data at local elementary schools in the coming weeks. I am really looking forward to continuing our research this semester and I’m incredibly thankful for being given this opportunity.

* The SURE program funds independent research projects proposed and conducted by USD under- graduate students in collaboration with a faculty mentor for 10 weeks during the summer.